Hello, I live in a residential loft building in downtown los angeles ca. The unit is huge and has a suite attached that I'd like to use as a studio. The suite is around 18x30 with a ceiling of about 10 ft. The floors are cement... so is the ceiling with one section of steel (which unfortunately is right above the desired drum booth area). Wall wise... one of the adjoining walls is to a stair well/elevator shaft, another is to an empty neighboring brick building, the other walls are to our own unit and would have about 9 ft between the booth and the walls... plus there are halls on the other side before the neighboring unit... I'm thinking that is a plus. The main issue I can see is the floor/ceiling situation. My plan is to make a small bed room at one end where the spare bathroom is to create even another barrier and then at the other end build a 9x10 (approx) booth for drums. The rest of the unit sounds great and when all is said and done, I'll probably re-amp drums into the other rooms to create a room sound when necessary. I don't have huge money and need to get it right the first time. I have looked into several used IAC audiology booths, but the manufacturer says that the single wall units aren't going to cut it with drums... So, I'm looking on advise for a plan/materials list etc. Next week I am planning on having carpet with cork and padding installed as the first stage... I have solid plans for everything but the drum booth and really could use any advice I can get. Please advise if you can ! Many thanks, Jp
p.s. I'm moving out of an 18x24x16 drum room after 8 years and it's killing me !!! HELP ; )
3rd fl loft, neighbors above and below... drum room help !
Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 17172.
Hi "stromboli". Please check the forum rules for posting: you seem to be missing something! :)
That said, isolating a room for drums on the third floor is a tough proposition. It can be done, but it requires very careful planning, and a good sized budget. It cannot be designed on the back of an enveloped in 5 minutes, and built overnight on a few hundred bucks. Not going to happen.
Drums are the loudest of all instruments, putting out 115 dB easily, plus pumping impact noise into the floor. They also put out a lot of low-frequency energy, which is the hardest part of the spectrum to isolate. 3rd floor lofts add the additional problem of un-damped resonant cavities on all sides (ie, "rooms"), with structure that will happily transmit low frequency vibrations and impact noise throughout the entire building.
Not trying to scare you: just laying out the bare ugly truth. Yes, it can be done, and yes you do have a good space for doing it, but no it isn't easy, and no it isn't cheap.
Multiple barriers may or may not be a good idea. There is a major issue in acoustic isolation know as the "three-leaf problem", where adding extra barriers can actually DECREASE your isolation. Not intuitive, but very, very true. The issue is tuned resonance: it can be your friend, or it can be your enemy.My plan is to make a small bed room at one end where the spare bathroom is to create even another barrier
Exactly! Very true. They know drums, and they understand what can and cannot be done with single leaf walls. Honest people.I have looked into several used IAC audiology booths, but the manufacturer says that the single wall units aren't going to cut it with drums...
Well, there are people here who can do that for you, but the purpose of the forum is more of a self-help and commentary system, where you learn how to do this yourself, post your design, and helpful folks here will offer advise on how to improve it. If you want someone to design the whole thing for you, then that's a bit different! This isn't a free design service, where people with major acoustic problems can drop in and get their entire designs done for free! Some people here make a living out of designing studios, and magnanimously offer their spare time for free here, but the idea is to help those who want to learn, not to hand out freebies!So, I'm looking on advise for a plan/materials list etc.
Bad idea, on both counts! Carpet has unknown acoustic characteristics, and is frequency selective: that is, it absorbs high frequencies really well, mids somewhat in random patterns, and lows not at all. That's the exact opposite of what you need for drums! Cork has some uses in acoustics, but is seldom used these days for many reasons: You can't just stick cork and carpet on the walls and hope that will make a studio!!! :shock: :roll: :!: That would be a disaster. In any event, neither cork nor carpet is any use at all to ISOLATE a room, which is what you need. They might be of some use in TREATING the room once it has been isolated, but are totally useless for isolation. Isolation and treatment are two entirely different, and exactly opposite things. You isolate a room to keep the sound in (stop it getting out), but trapping sound in a room makes it sound really bad. So then you need treatment to fix that. The materials used to isolate are no good for treatment, and those used for treatment are no good for isolation. Very different things.Next week I am planning on having carpet with cork and padding installed as the first stage...
Hmmmm....I have solid plans for everything but the drum booth and really could use any advice I can get.
My advise to you would be first: STOP! Call your contractors and suppliers, and tell them to put a hold on the orders, as you aren't ready yet. You are heading down the wrong path right now. You need to design the entire studio correctly, for both isolation and treatment, and only THEN think about actually building anything. Designing takes time, and you can either learn how to do it right yourself with the help of folks here, or pay someone to do it for you if you don't have the time or inclination to learn. Anyway, please fix your "missing item" from the forum rules, and also post photos of the space you have, plus an accurate sketch or model of the space, so we can get a better idea. - Stuart -Please advise if you can !